Traction device.



J. S. HUNTER.'

TRAGTION DEVICE.

APPLICATION HLED MAR. z5, 1912.

190509684', Patented May 6, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

l. My device is also arrangement of .JOHN s. HUNTER, or EGEL-AND, NORTHDAKOTA.

TRACTION DEVICE. f

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented May 6', 1913.

' Application ala March 25, 1912. serial No. 686,186.

To all whom, t may concern.:

Be it known'that I, JoHN S. HUNTER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Egeland, in the county of Towner, State of lNorth Dakota,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Traction Devices, of whichthe following is a specilication.

This invention relatesto traction devices or runners land has a novelconstruction and 'ts parts as hereinafter shown and described.

rI he object of the inventionI is to provide a traction deviceconsisting of a series of shoeshinged together to 4make an lendlesstread, said shoes having projecting flanges which form an endless trackfor a series of anti-friction roller bearings to travel on. The rollerbearings being'retained in guideways which extend about the periphery ofthe frame thus doing away as far as ossible with friction and giving adevice which will require a 'small amount of -power to operate. providedwith anti-friction bearings to eliminate friction caused by side thrustwhile the device is in motion.

-Itis obvious that my device can be used to take the place of the wheelor runners on ordinary vehicles and is so' constructed as tol traveleasily over .various kinds of roads 'in' summer and winter.

In the accompanying drawings which .orin part of this speciication andwith which I have illustrated my invention, Figis a detail cross side'elevation of a modified portion thereof Abeing ,broken away;

ure 1 is a side elevation of-my device where power is employed tooperate the same; Fig. 2 is a' section of Fig. 1 on the line X-X aportion thereof being brokenaway; Fig. 3 section illustrating various'parts of my construction; Fig. 4 is a detail plan da. portion of mydevice; Fig. 5 is a form of my device adapted .to be used when draftmeans are employed instead of power; Fig. 6 is aA en on the line YY,Fig. 5, a

section ta Fig. 7 is a cross section of a portion of one of the shoesused in my device and Fig. 8 illustrates two of the shoes in perspectiveshowing the method of hinging the same.

The frame A is oblong in shape with circular ends and composed ofparallel sides 2 in the form of I beams on which are mounted 1guideways3 about the entire periphery of the frame A and are substantially Tshaped being hollow.

throughoutgther length.v The horizontal outer wall of the'openings 9 areand 4 which extendl T shaped guideways 3 and 4 anti-friction rollers 6leg 5 of the forms a. channel for and has two parallel project-ing ribs7 on which the rollers are adapted to run, thus reducing the frictionsurface and prevent- .ing dust and dirt from clogging and vgrinding therollers. The other leg 8 of the T shaped guideway projects outwardlyfrom the frame body A and is open, forming a continuous opening or slot9 about the frame body. The guideways or channels 3 and 4 are placedabout live or six inches from the outer edge substantiallyy rectangularin shape, having a curved outward face 11 and a {iat inner face 12.'Integral with lthe shoe 10 and near eachv end are flanges 13 projectingat right angles from the inner face 12 and parallel to each other. Theseiianges are widened at their outer portion 14 to forma long bearingsurface 15 parallel with the face 12 and are.

rounded olin on the corners 15. The adjacent sides of the shoes 10 areformed to be joined together by hinge bolts or pins 16 thus forming acontinuous tread 17 about the periphery of thev frame A. It will be seenthat when the shoes pass around the circular ends of the frame A thereare no open joints between the shoes to catch rocks and dirt which wouldtend to stop the operation and break the parts. Flanges 13 ofthe shoes10 project into the openings 9 and are so arranged that one pair on on'eshoe are spaced wide apart and come in contact with 'the' outer wall ofthe openings 9, the other pair on the next succeeding shoe coming incontact with Athe inside wall of the. opening or slot 9 thus the pairsof flanges interniesh each other` successively about the entire frame.The surfaces 15 ride upon the rollers G and form endless parallel tracks19 for the frame A to travel on.v The flanges on the shoes 10 which comein contact with the their lower extremity with anti-friction bearings 18and the outer wall of the opening in thelleg 8. of the guideways 3 and 4is formed with a groove 20 to receive the antifriction bearings 18, thegroove 20 is continuous about. the guides or channels 3-and 4. Theguideways 3 and 4 are provided with an enlarged slot 21 preferably o nthe upper horizon-tal portion of the guideways (see Figs. ,1: and 4)to'forman openingl for the inserting of the rollers of the leg 8 so they'will travelA 'free of mud and dirt. The shoes 10 are provided at Waysand also for placing the shoes which have the anti-friction bearings 18on their' flanges int-o the guideways so the bear- 'iianges 13.

ing -18 Will enter the groove 20 of the open# ing 9. The flanges 13 onone of the shoes 10 are formed with straight sides 22 as illus trated inF ig. 3 to allow the shoes 10 to be 'placed close together when they-areinserted intothe guidexvays 3 and 4. The shoes can be placed 1n theslots or opening 9 sepa-v rately and then joined together by inserting ahinge pin 1G of ordinary construction. It is obvious that if one ofthehinge pins break or. if one of the shoes become detached it cannot'getout of the channels 9 as those,

shoes carrying the `anti-friction bearings 18 are held in the grooves20l and the other shoes are held by their intermeshing mounted on theframe A in bearings 31 and is adapted to be driven by any suitablemeans. The sides 2 of the frame are braced by I-beams'32. y

In the form Iillustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 no driving elements are used.This is designed to be used as a Wheel or runner Where draft means areemployed. Here I have illustrated ball bearings 35 to be used 4in placeof the rollers 6. The shoes 10 being `substantially the same as inv mypower device and form a continuous tread 17. In'

this construction the frame B is made light vby using open iron vork forthe sides 36- which are spaced apart' by rods 37 and braces 38, thusbeing securely braced. Openings 39 are. provided in the sides 36 of theframe'for the axle of a'vehicle.

' vThe ball bearings 35 are held in the channels Qr guideways 40conforming in shape to said bearings and slots 41 are provided fortherecept-ion of thelianges 13 of the shoes 10. A groove 42 is alsoprovided for the anti-friction bearings 18 in the Wall of the slots 41.Theoperation of this construction is in every Way identical t6 the firstdescribed, with the exception of the driving means. Thus it will be seenthat in the operation of my device the tread 17 .Will rest rmly on theground and the frame Al will travel freely on its bearings 6 over theendless tracks '19 formed by theintermeshing flanges 13, the Vbearings18 preventing friction from side thrusting of the device, therebyreducing the friction to the smallest possible amount and affording easyoperation.

'In 'accordance' withthe patent statutes I' have described y theprinciples of operation of my invention together with the apparatuswhich I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof but Idesire to have it understood that the vconstruction shown is onlyillustrative and that the invention can be carried 'out by other meansand applied to uses other than those above set forth vvithin the scopeof the following claims.

Having described myrinvention, What I claim as new and desire to protectby Letters Patent is: y

1. A traction device comprising a frame having parallel guideways at theperiphery thereof, said guideways retaining a series of free rollerbearings forming a continuous anti-friction guideway, an endless chainofshoes about said frame, the adjacent edges of u'fhich being formed with'interconnect-ed tongues and grooves and each of said shoes havinga pairof 'inwardly projecting side flanges which form tracks for said frame,every otherpair of flanges on said shoes -straddling the succeeding-pair,`of flanges on the next shoe to limit lateral movement of s aldshoes and means secured'to the outer sides of the straddling flanges foreliminating friction of-said track against the Walls of saidv motion.

2. Al traction 'device comprising a loop shaped frame having ananti-friction guide- \vay about the periphery thereof, a series of shoesjoined together to, form a continuoustread, said shoes'havingproject-ing flanges guideways While said chain isin 'into said guidewa'yand forming a track on which said frame is adapted to travelandanti-friction bearings secured to the outer sides of ev-ery other one ofsaid flanges adapted to travel inv a formed in the side of saidguideways topreventr the displacement of said track' and re duce thefriction between the -frack and said guideways. 3. A device of the classset forth, compris ing-a loop shaped frame, parallel endless channelsabout said frame, a series o f rollers adapted to run freely in saidchannelsand a continuous tread'ab'out said frame continuous grool'ecomposed of a series of shoes hinged together, said shoes`havinginwardly project' inglianges which form an endless track over which saidrollers are adapted to travel and means for retaining said rollers insaid channels.independent of said track.

4. A traction device, comprising a loov shaped' frame about which extendparalle channels adapted to retain 'a series of free roller bearings, atread formed of. an endless chaih of shoes hinged together, said shoeshaving a curved outer face. a pair of inwardly projecting iiangesinternieshing with ythe flanges on the adjacent shoes, the pairs offlanges on each alternate shoe straddling said device.

the pair-"of 'flanges lo'n the next succeeding shoe making a continuoustrack of' 'equal ,width for said roller lhearings, and means forengaging the innerfaceof said shoes centrally between Asaid flangestoevenly drive saiddevice.

5. A- tractl n-device comprising a'v frame havlnggparallel guideways at`its periphery,

a t'zhaiiiV ofshdes lsarroundir'ig 'the periphery of the frame, seriesoffree roller lhearings adaptedfftoiun. 'freely ginsaid guideways''which are so'formed as to'prevent the .es-'- oap'ement of said rollerbearings, a pairl of flanges projecting at right angles from' theinneraces l,of the opposite ends 'of said shoes', the pair of flanges,on one shoe strad dling the langes on the next [succeeding shoe,alternately, the outer edges of all of Y -said lnges 'being parallelwith the` inner 20 facesof sald sh0es, said 'flanges extending into saidgggmdeways and 'against .said roller bearings, forming a contlnuoustrack 6. A 'traction' dev`ce, comprising a` frame havingparallel-channels for free anti-friction bearings abont its periphery,an endless.

for

track about said'chan'nela means for retail 'ing said anti-frictionbearings in said channel independent 4'of said track, said track havingintermeshing flanges projecting friction bearings to 'form a continuonstread-or said-device. v

' 7. A traction device, comprising a .frame having parallel channels forfree. anti-fric tion bearings about its periphery, means formed integralwith said channels for retaining said antifriction bearings, an endlesstread about said channels, said tread having intermeshing flangesprojecting aboutsaid channels andv against said anti.

.friction bearings to form a continuous track H..'L. FISCHER., G. N.DEEBACH.

HUNTER.

30,@ into said channels,"andv against said anti-

